My son wrote me a card that said this: "I loav you, Mom. You're the beast!" Nothing sums me up better. Welcome to the Beast Mom blog!

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..

Opposition? You’re Going DOWN.

I swear as soon as I try to work on my novel, 100 other things scream, “You have to take care of THIS first!”

That only makes me more determined.

I will not let these random, seemingly necessary things thwart me or suck all my best work time away.

It comes down to the concept of “first things first”. (Although everyone who’s tried to intentionally live that way knows the REAL complexity comes in when you’re choosing between too many seemingly necessary and GOOD things, things you owe to your loved ones in particular.) At the same time, I know I’m supposed to write this book. This is one of those “good things”. I am 200 pages in already and have the end of Act II to write as well as Act III. It’s coming together nicely. But EVERY FREAKIN’ DAY, a LIST of “other” needs and distractions gets right in my face. It’s super annoying. I need to treat my writing like a real job. If I worked for someone else’s office, I wouldn’t have the choice to even think about doing some of these other things. They just wouldn’t happen during my work day.

I both look forward to summer and dread it. I know I won’t have any focused writing time with the kids home all day and all night. At the same time, I try to keep things in perspective. Will I look back and think, “Boy am I glad I shoved them off so I could write six hours a day, all summer long?” No. I wouldn’t be glad. I’d regret it. I can see why so many writers who are also parents never get started at all. I can see why so many parent-writers begin their real writing careers as older people, not while their kids are home.

It’s almost imossible for me to get good writing done without at least 4-6 hours of focused, quiet time. If I only have 2 hours, I don’t even bother to start. I won’t get anything done. I really don’t have 5 workdays of writing time, contrary to what people think since my kids are in school. I usually have 2-3 at most every week , sometimes way less. So the first day back into it after being away from the project for 4-5 days (sometimes a whole week!), I have to spend reviewing and rereading to figure out where my train of thought was. That takes a couple hours sometimes. It’s totally inefficient. I both enjoy writing on this project and hate it sometimes simply BECAUSE it’s that inefficient. The concept of putting in quality writing every day on this kind of project is a concept impossible for most parents. I cannot write from midnight-5am like some insane parent-writers. I may be driven, but I’m not THAT driven. I think that’s totally unhealthy to get just a couple hours of sleep every night. But some days, that’s what I feel like I should do, or just forget about this project.

I’ve noticed some athletes go into a calm, chilled out state when things challenge their progress. Others power up and go angry, pumping harder to finish that race. I definitely fall into that second camp. I feel mad right now that other “stuff” keeps getting in the way of my writing project. I am a mom. I am a wife. I am involved in other worthwhile pursuits and activities, not just writing. What parent isn’t busy, right? But there are only so many hours in one day to cram all these good things in, and I’m frustrated enough right now to just chop out everything that really doesn’t fit this season of my writing life. It’s that important to me. I don’t think a lot of people around me fully realize this. It is a DREAM of mine to pursue a creative endeavor and actually SUCCEED. I am not even close to satisfying that goal yet. I have been waiting a long time to get this part of my life moving. I will NOT be thwarted. I interpret these battles for my time as just that – BATTLES. Nothing worthwhile is accomplished without some opposition. And to opposition I say, “You’re going DOWN. I’m gonna’ win. I WILL GET THIS PROJECT WRITTEN.”

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..